“The Bush economic catastrophe continued to pummel the stock market as well as the greater economy for an extended period of time after its choreographers had left office.

To that end, it may be better to compare Thursday’s highs to the recession’s lows. All indexes closed at their recessionary bottom on March 9, 2009 (DOW at 6507, NASDAQ at 1269 and S&P at 676). Since then, the DOW has nearly tripled its value, as has the S&P 500. The NASDAQ has gone up more than 3.5 fold.

While there was passing mention of the DOW crossing the psychologically important 17,000 mark in the media, the coverage of its perspective and how it was made possible remained largely muted in the wasteland of TV/Cable news. But some print columnists are seeing a strong trend: Market Watch’s Paul Farrell predicts that The Great Obama Bull Market, as he calls it, is poised to last into the 2016 elections, or a total of over seven years, twice as long as the average bull market.

It’s just incredible when people like this creature make statements like that, as if a nation’s ‘original’ people don’t count because they’re somehow subhuman. Jesus. I really get now why 99ts sounds so down so often about this creep.

Forty-six Indian nurses initially stranded at a hospital in Tikrit and later moved to Mosul have been freed by the fighters of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The nurses have been moved to Erbil from where they’ll be flown into Kerala on a special aircraft arranged by the Indian government.

Part of the successful strategy that I’m sure U.S. Congress couldn’t have managed >>

“They never once let out the details of the negotiations; all they said was that the nurses were safe. There were no irresponsible statements, and once the negotiations went through, they were ready to bring the nurse back. B B Tyagi, India’s ambassador in Iraq, is a man of great repute. He has the right contacts and skills to oversee such an operation. He shared information with the government, and the government never allowed any sort of frenzy,” he says.

Sahay adds that this should be a learning curve for the diaspora outside.”

On the other hand, I remember my dear Dad would press his right foot to the floor at times, looking somewhat peaked. And him a WWII Navy vet.. Hmm. I recognized the body language later when my daughter was learning to drive! Perhaps PBO could be spared the stress, as he does have a bit on his plate these days! Boner is no match for a teenager learning to drive!

Well, I suppose that if I were President Obama and my daughter was turning 16 today, I’d be a bit torn in not being able to help her to learn to drive. But, ‘pity’ is not how I’d describe my reaction. More like a sense of regret that such a fine person, who has done so much for so many, is constricted by the constant awareness that quite a few folk would do harm to him and his family if they had the opportunity.

“Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council report: July 4
RNBO_map_04_07-2

2014/07/04 • Daily Updates

CONSOLIDATED NEWS FROM THE NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE COUNCIL (RNBO) NEWS & ANALYSIS CENTER
at 12:00 JULY 4, 2014

In compliance with a decree of the President of Ukraine to renew the active phase of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), the personnel and units of the ATO forces began to actively disarm and destroy terrorist group in the operational zone. Ukraine’s Armed Forces engaged in heavy air and artillery bombardment on strongholds, checkpoints, arms caches and clusters of terrorists, National Security Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy reported today at the 12:00 briefing.

The activity levels of militant bands have noticeably declined. The terrorists have suffered serious losses of life, now in the hundreds. In the last week, some terrorist equipment was also destroyed: 1 tank, 1 Zenit launcher, 5 armored KAMAZes with personnel. One KAMAZ was carrying weapons and ammo for militants was captured by the armed forces.

Since the start of the ATO in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblast, 17 population centers have been liberated and the Government of Ukraine now controls 23 counties out of 36. In Donetsk Oblast, more than two thirds are in government hands: 13 out of 18, while in Luhansk, more than half are: 10 out of 18. Where the government has recovered control, local governments, police and community services have resumed their work.

During the last week since the ATO was resumed, 4 more settlements were liberated from the terrorists: Zakotne, Raihorodok, Reznikovka, and Raioleksandrivka.”